What role do diesel gensets play in India?
Power is one of the most critical components of infrastructure and is crucial for both economic growth and welfare of the nation. India´s power sector is one of the most diversified and is undergoing significant change redefined the industry outlook. GoI´s focus on ´Power for all´ has accelerated capacity addition in the country. At the same time, the competitive intensity is increasing at market and supply sides. Unreliability of electricity grids is a major factor driving the market. Electricity grids, which are already operational in India, are not able to withstand heavy rainfall, earthquake and fires, which lead to power outages. The need for uninterrupted and continuous power supply has led to increased adoption of gensets across sectors. With the implementation of CPCB-II norms and stringent emission norms, there will be a substantial improvement in the quality of exhaust gasses being discharged into the atmosphere making the diesel gensets into completely eco-friendly options.

Where does India stand on the global scale?
The global generator market is highly competitive; the technology used is maturing and replaceable, and there are pricing challenges. However, in the past decade, the market grew 40 per cent, and by 2025, it is expected to grow by another 50 per cent. The market growth during the forecast period will largely depend on the market growth in the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific attributed to be mainly driven by the oil and gas and mining industries in this region. India easily ranks among the top 10 marketplaces globally. There is a large requirement of diesel generators in India and Sterling and Wilson Power Gen Pvt. Ltd, being the most dominant player in this segment will get benefit from it.

The segment is set to grow steadily is projected to grow at the fastest rate. This growth is attributed to rising demand for uninterrupted power supply and increasing industrialisation. Frequent power outages and increasing power demand unmet by existing grid are driving the diesel generators market in the region. Various end-user sectors such as healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical industries, manufacturing facilities, transportation and communication systems, data centres, fuelling stations, and water and sewage facilities require consistent power supply to ensure seamless operations.

Kindly explain how diesel generators can compete with renewables?
The new CPCB-II emission rule is a breakthrough legislation which will certainly help control release of polluting gasses into the atmosphere and result in overall healthy living. CPCB II norms aim to reduce levels of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter (PM), which are the two main pollutants in diesel engines. With the implementation of CPCB II and stringent emission norms, there will be a substantial improvement in the quality of exhaust gasses being discharged into the atmosphere. The new norms will have a positive impact that will ensure favourable actions by companies. The implementation of these norms will certainly help control release of polluting gasses into the atmosphere and result in overall healthy living. The diesel gensets are progressively moving towards cleaner and greener energy solutions.

Which segment will support growth of DG sets in India?
In India, power supply from the grid is often insufficient to meet power requirements across various sectors. Consequently, diesel gensets play a pivotal role in providing reliable and high-quality power backup during power cuts as well as stand-alone power generation systems. The construction segments both commercial and residential purpose and increasing industrialisation cumulatively accounted for a majority share in the country´s diesel gensets market. The most popular segments in this vary from 125 kVA to 3,000 kVA.

What are the major challenges you face?
Without a doubt, the Indian power sector has witnessed exponential growth during the past decade. Changing trends in technology remain the biggest opportunity, as these will make it more viable and reduce dependence on subsidies. People often talk about addressing the customer need but we need to understand that there are different aspects to this. Our aim is to create a product that is technically superior, represents the latest technology and makes customers feel that they have taken the right decision in buying this product. And, it should also be cost competitive as we are aware that India is a price sensitive market. Sterling Generators has always stayed ahead of the competition by improving operational efficiency and has through continual improvement produced quality and timely delivery.

What technologies have you applied specific to India?
We predominantly focus on two major technical trends in the DG sets sector which generally attracts customer demand i.e. fuel efficiency and emission controls. Today we have products compliant to CPCB II norms and even Euro IV standards. The availability of such products hence drives the customer towards purchasing and utilising DG sets which are far more superior to the alternatives which were available. Any product which offers increased productivity, fuel efficiency, minimal maintenance and more importantly have cost competent drives the choice of customers towards superior products. Load characteristics though does not influence the choice of DG sets, it definitely defines the operational efficiency of that particular product. The ability to maintain a stable load ensures the efficiency and longer operational life of the DG sets.

What are the company´s business strategies for the India market?
Retail and exports will be our new key growth areas. Venturing into the retail segment and expanding the export profile are two of our core agendas for the future. In addition, we are also planning to foray into the construction of power plants. The process will be similar to a leasing business, wherein we will build the power plants for the customers. Our expertise in distinct power and energy verticals will assist us in achieving this target. We also plan to explore the Recon space, i.e. the reconditioning business. This involves reconditioning of the used engine components into relatively new systems

What is your market perspective for India in the next 2-5 years?
We are looking forward to a stronger dealer network to reach out to more people with our products and services while continuing to serve our loyal customers. Keeping in mind the increasing demand for fuel efficient and silent DG sets, we are planning to expand our dealership network extensively across the country. Currently, we have more than 60 dealers across India and plan to spread out to more cities increasing its dealer network to more than 120 by 2017.